SLIDESHOW

9 ways to celebrate “Back to the Future” Day

If you’re looking to join the festivities, we have several suggestions on things you can do. Grab your flux capacitor and let’s generate 1.21 gigawatts of fun!

By Keith Shaw, Contributing Writer, Network World |

Another made up geeky day

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015 marks the day in which time-traveler Marty McFly arrives from the past (from the movie “Back to the Future Part II”. The Internet is freaking out about this upcoming “holiday”, and in the tradition of fake geeky holidays like “Star Wars Day” (May 4), Pi Day (March 14) and “Talk like a Pirate Day” (September something), we now have a day to celebrate everything related to the time-travel movie, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

If you’re looking to join the festivities, we have several suggestions on things you can do. Grab your flux capacitor and let’s generate 1.21 gigawatts of fun!

Watch Part II on the big screen

Across the country, Universal is relaunching the second film for one-night only on Oct. 21. If you live in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Austin, Texas, or Seattle, you can watch it again on the big screen.

Watch the movies in your home

We live in glorious times, where we don’t need to find our old VCR copy of the movie - you can stream all three films via Amazon Prime Video (with a subscription), or you can rent the films from Amazon, Apple, Vudu and via the PlayStation Store. Cable companies and services are offering the movies on demand, as well.

Buy the 30th anniversary Blu-ray edition

On Oct. 20, Universal will release a five-disc version of the trilogy on Blu-ray ($29.80 for Amazon Prime members). The new version includes an “all-new bonus disc featuring 2 hours of content”, including an all-new short featuring Christopher Lloyd, a nine-part retrospective documentary from 2009, two episodes of the animated series from 1991, and a documentary featuring the 2012 restoration of the DeLorean.

Drink a Pepsi Perfect

In Part II of the trilogy, Marty heads to the year 2015 and enters the ‘80s Cafe, ordering a “Pepsi Perfect” from the robot waiter. The beverage maker, never one to miss a marketing opportunity, recently announced that it was making 6,500 bottles of “Pepsi Perfect”, which you can buy online on Oct. 21 (if you shell out $20.15 for the drink, which means you’ll probably not drink it). Watch the video.

Attend a symphonic concert of the film’s music

If you’re in Indianapolis on Oct. 21, head to the Hilbert Circle Theater to watch the Indianapolis Symphony perform Alan Silverstri’s musical score while watching “Back to the Future” on a high-definition screen. Performances of the symphonic score/movie combination will also be held in New York at Radio City Music Hall (Oct. 15-16), Toronto (Oct. 16-17), St. Louis (Oct. 30-Nov. 1), Melbourne, Australia (Nov. 6-7), Perth, Australia (Nov. 13-14), Denver (Nov. 14) and other cities as well through 2016.

Play Back to the Future video games

If you want a more interactive adventure, check out the “Back to the Future: The Game - 30th Anniversary” edition, releasing for PS4, Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles on Oct. 13 ($19.99). The game, created by Telltale Games, includes original cast members Christopher Lloyd, Tom Wilson, Claudia Wells and a special cameo appearance from Michael J. Box. The recently released “Lego Dimensions” video game also features a Back to the Future game level ($29.99), in which you build a Marty McFly minifigure, hoverboard and DeLorean time machine as part of the game (the Doc Brown minifigure comes out on Jan. 19, 2016). And the app “Jetpack Joyride” for mobile devices has a new time-traveling event featuring Marty, Doc and Biff costumes.

Watch the Jaws 19 trailer

Although it would be really awesome if they actually made this film, the best we can do at the moment is watch this fake trailer for the 19th film in the Jaws series.

Read a book about the movie trilogy

On Oct. 20, Harper Collins will release “Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History” ($50) In addition to the behind-the-scenes history of the movie, the book includes removable items, including a Hill Valley High School Tardy Slip, a “Save the Clocktower” leaflet, a “Jaws 19” movie poster, and more.

Pray for Power Laces

Marty’s Nike sneakers that he wore in the movie have yet to appear with power laces (in 2011, the sneaker company did release a non-power-lace version). Earlier this year, a CNET article said that designers were trying to work on a model with the power laces, but we still haven’t seen anything yet. Keep hoping, sneaker fans!